Courier-Post from Camden, New Jersey • Page 77

Sunday, March 18, 21)01 www.courierpostonline.com Business Retailers forced to make cutbacks For firaicL dafil is ddu dteMs ft i 'IV lv i 1 1 By ANNE INNOCENZIO Associated Press NEW YORK With consumers on a spending diet for the past six months, the nation's top merchants are tightening their belts in what some analysts predict could be the leanest times since the early 1990s. That means cutting back on expansion plans, closing stores, and selling or shutting down unprofitable divisions. Some retailers are even delaying shipment of some of their spring merchandise by up to four weeks. Of course, not everyone is floundering. Wal-Mart Stores the world's largest retailer, is accelerating expansion plans for its super centers this year.

The company expected to open 170 to 180 of the megastores. And many aren't wasting any time moving in on defunct stores' real estate. Target Stores Inc. is spending $700 million to buy and refurbish 35 former Montgomery Ward stores. The majority of the sites are in prime California markets.

High-flying clothing retailer Kohl's Corp. is buying the rights to occupy 15 for Home Depot struggling with a sales slump and a second con-secuti ve quarter of lower profits, announced late last month that it's slashing new store openings by 11 percent this year. It's the company's first retreat on new store plans in five 1 '1 mer Bradlees stores in the Northeast. Clearly the economic boom, fueled by a rocketing stock market and high consumer confidence, gave many retailers a good reason to embark on bold ex-pansion. Even fashion companies like Tommy Hil-figer, Ken TINA MARKOE KINSLOWCouner-Post Dennis Maloomian, president of Berwyn, Realen Properties, speaks at a Cherry Hill Development Council-sponsored meeting on Wednesday about his firm's plans to develop the track.

'Businesses locate their offices according to where people he says. i Ideas abound for development of Garden State Park Courier Post file photo Bradlees is one of the retailers that has felt the recent economic crunch and been forced to close. ri PosTon 1 i ryi com Read this story and other special features on our Web site. center. Long before the $500 million plan was presented Wednesday, residents offered their input both formally at township brainstorming sessions and informally, as in the passerby who called out to Levin, "Can we have a Starbucks?" Originally, the developers' plan for the new Garden State Park contained eight big-box stores fronting Route 70 and far less condominiums.

As yet uncounted are the numerous tweaks Mayor Susan Bass Levin said to expect before and after the first shovel of earth is turned. "There's still a lot of work to be done," she said. "The devil is in the details." Devil's advocates are already emerging, saying the land would be better used as a sprawling technology complex or perhaps a town By EILEEN SMITH Courier-Post Staff CHERRY HILL In this suburb of housing developments and shopping centers, Garden State Park is the last frontier. Under a newly released master plan, the track's 223 verdant acres would become 1 million square feet of office space, 500,000 square feet of retail shops and 1,500 townhouses and project "Businesses locate their offices according to where people live." Class A or top of the line space is scarce in Cherry Hill, prompting a flurry of building in townships such as Mount Laurel and Moorestown. Even the 70,000 square feet of Class offices that became available when GE Capital Mortgage began vacating 3 Executive Campus on Cuthbert Boulevard were immediately snapped up by Comcast Marcus A.

Policarpo, vice president of the commercial brokerage Bins-wanger, said the existing NJ Transit station at Garden State will entice companies with Philadelphia-based work forces to set up shop there. "Leases in South Jersey are at least $5 a square foot cheaper than in, say, Con-shohocken," he said. "That makes it even more attractive." The game plan at Garden State is to build office space to suit tenants, rather than on speculation. "This is a plan that will take years to complete," See TRACK, Page6D years. Gap facing declining sales in all of its divisions, announced two weeks ago that it's cutting back its expansion rate to 15 percent in 2002 and 2003.

The original projection was new-store growth of 17 to 20 The Limited which earlier this month reported an 18 percent drop in fourth-quarter net income, is selling its Lane Bryant di-i vision and restructuring its beleaguered men's apparel business. Lechter's Federated Department Stores Inc. and J.C. Penney Co. are all also closing stores and cutting jobs.

The sluggish retail environment helped seal the fate of two prominent but struggling retailers Braintree, Bradlees Inc. and Montgomery Ward, the 128-year-old Chicago merchandiser owned by General Electric Co. And analysts expect there are more failures to come. "This is another round of Darwin economics. It's survival of the fittest," said Arnold Aronson, managing director of retail strategies at Kurt Salmon Associates, a New York-based consulting firm.

neth Cole and QuikSilver moved quickly to add flagship stores in some major cities. From 1997 to 1999, some 91,000 new stores were added nationwide, according to Byrne Associates, which tracks store growth. That nearly doubled the 49,500 new outlets established during the retail boom years of 1992 to 1994. The net gain in the number of stores is expected to considerably slow from a high of 7.2 percent in 1999 to a projected 3.3 percent this year and next. Michael P.

Niemera, vice president of Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, said stores are readjusting to the 2.5 percent sales gain seen over the past six months. That, he predicted, will be the norm for the next year or so, down sharply from the 5 percent increase merchants enjoyed during each of the past three years. The most vulnerable sector, according to analysts, is apparel, which has enjoyed a five-year run. Gains in square footage for apparel chains is expected to slow this year to 3 percent, down from last year's 4 percent, according to Banc of America Securities. 'i I open space than the 75 acres in the current design.

"We 'No, start Levin recalled. In addition to woodland trails and communal greens, the current configuration clusters smaller, boutique-sized shops nearest the highway, with a trio of big boxes in the back. No retailers have been signed as yet, but Levin has her wish list and there aren't any discount department stores on it "I'd love a Borders or a Barnes Noble," she said. "Pottery Barn or Crate Barrel." Both Levin and the primary developer, Berwyn, Realen Properties, believe the site also should include office space and high-density residences. "Markets follow the rooftops," said Dennis Maloomian, president of Realen, which is teaming with Turnberry Associates of Aventura, for the 9 I ll'l.

S. Courier-Post file photo With some careful planning and a few breaks, developers believe the Garden State Park grandstand (pictured) could fall before the year is out. Amid Northwest-mechanics dispute, is a union's ambition to expand By KARREN MILLS Associated Press who said he didn't want his last name used. "Let's put it down in writing and talk about it. We would vote on it and it probably would pass.

I want it done and over with." The emergency board will begin its healing on Monday in Philadelphia, when both sides make opening statements. On Tuesday, AMFA presents its positions and Northwest takes its turn Wednesday. Rebuttals and closing statements are scheduled for Thurs- See UNION, Page 7D is the mechanics here at Northwest Airlines." Northwest says the last-minute offer was for real, but when it was rejected, the airline reverted to its previous position. The withdrawal left many mechanics thinking Northwest was toying with them while waiting for the arbitrators appointed by Bush to recommend a resolution to the 412-year contract dispute that would be more favorable to the carrier. "If this is a bona fide offer, let's play it out" said John, a mechanic AMFA's promise of a sweeter deal that persuaded Northwest mechanics to ditch the Machinists in 1998.

"There's some political reasons for this union to hold really tight and really tough," said Joseph Daly, an arbitrator and professor at Hamline University Law School in St. Paul AMFA spokesman Paul Volker agrees that the contract with Northwest could carry a broader importance. "Success generally sells itself," he said. "(But) our primary focus mously rejected the offer, saying it was short on details and retroactive pay and came too close to their strike deadline for discussion. Then early this month, the clock ran out on a 30day cooling-off period, Northwest withdrew its offer and the dispute was turned over to a three-member board named by President Bush.

When news of Northwest's offer leaked, some mechanics grumbled that perhaps their interests were taking a back seat to AMFA's desire to impress mechanics at other airlines. After all, it was serve to swell its membership. AMFA's stated goal: to someday represent all airline mechanics in the United States. The union is actively recruiting at the three biggest carriers United, American and Delta. Many AMFA members think a late verbal offer by Northwest featuring a 26 percent initial wage increase and a 112 percent increase in pension benefits sounded pretty good and that it would have passed had they gotten a chance to vote on it But union negotiators unani MINNEAPOLIS As Northwest Airlines and its mechanics' union bargain over a new contract, there's more at stake for union leaders than the welfare of its rank and file.

Just three years after scooping Northwest's mechanics away from the International Association of Machinists, the upstart Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association is looking for a groundbreaking deal that could Pioneer capitalizes on underwater camera market Research, who also is an avid sailor and diver. Five years ago, Harms, of 1 1 Made "'South Cherry Hill, and his two sons, Sven and Bjorn, began manufacturing un Jersey most underwater shots costs $199. "We are riding a wave of an unstoppable leisure trend," said Harms, citing the demographic onslaught of baby boomers shopping for high-quality leisure toys, from $600 binoculars for bird-watching or safari trekking to cameras seeking watery Kodak moments. Historically, divers built lunch-box type, plastic containers for traditional, land-side cameras and took them underwater. Today, most underwater cameras are made specifically for the job.

Pioneer imports the actual camera from Japan and Taiwan and seals it with a bright yellow, molded rubber jacket. The end product is buoyant enough to rise to the surface of the water if it becomes separated from its owner. Because the value of the casing and the assembly labor exceeds half of the total value of the product it is permitted to carry a Made in See PIOfEER, Page 7D more than 60,000 cameras worldwide, a 25 percent increase over the year before. Harms anticipates 20 percent annual growth over the next three to five years. He also expects to offer digital cameras in addition to the company's current inventory of 35 mm, point and shoot cameras that range in price from $99 to $199.

By comparison, high-end underwater cameras can cost up to $600. Gadget lovers take note. A SeaLife flash attachment that is almost essential for By EILEEN STILWELL Courier-Post Staff MOORESTOWN Wolfgang Harms attributes "mind-boggling growth" in the underwater camera business to airstrips. "There's hardly a tiny island left that you can't get to by some kind of small plane. People are everywhere exploring the oceans and they want to preserve what they see," said Harms, the 65-year-old founder of Pioneer 4 derwater cameras in Had-don Township under the name SeaLife.

Two years later, they expanded and moved into a combination office, production and distribution facility here. Last Pioneer sold I PARIS GRAYCouner-Post Doris Kohm, a quality control inspector at Pioneer Research in Moorestown, checks one of the company's underwater cameras on a recent workday..